There are many situations in orthopedic and sports medicine where a joint needs to be protected. This is particularly true of the knee joint in the game of football. The knee joint, for example, is capable of pivoting in the rearward direction, but can not be moved forward or sideways of the upper leg without substantial injury to muscles, tendons, and bones. When the knee joint has been subjected to the wrong movement, due to the player being tackled and so on, the knee tends to develop permanent injuries which do not heal between games. Attempts, therefore, have been made to prevent such deleterious movement by developing braces which inhibit that forward or "wrong way" motion, as well as to resist lateral motion of the lower leg relative to the upper leg. These braces are intended not only to protect the leg against being injured in the first place, but also to prevent it from receiving additional injurious articulation in directions that the knee joint is not supposed to move. Braces of this type that have been developed in the past have usually been made of metal having hinges that coincide with the hinge line of the knee. In order to fit one of these very expensive braces properly, a mold of the leg was necessary, making it an expensive and time-consuming process, since it is custom-fitted. Secondly, wearing a hinged brace on each leg as a prophylaxis against adverse trauma is completely unsatisfactory, because the inner aspect of the braces strike each other unless the user runs with his legs apart. Running in this way would be unsatisfactory to an athlete who depends on speed and agility.
The braces developed in the past were prone to slip when sweat was present. Some of the braces are designed to protect against the most common football injury which is a tear of the medial collateral ligament. In such case, there is no protection to the cruciate ligaments, which are the criss-cross band of thick ligaments deep within the knee cavity which prevents hyperextension of the knee, and also prevents instability of the upper femur on the lower tibia platform. This type of injury can be very devastating and the repair requires the most meticulous surgery which is not always succesful. Furthermore, most of the braces of the past have been very heavy which prevents their use with the athlete who is a child or a high school student. These and other difficulties experienced with the prior art devices have been obviated in a novel manner by the present invention.
It is, therefore, an outstanding object of the invention to provide an orthopedic brace which not only protects against tearing of the medial collateral ligament, but also protects against injury to the cruciate ligaments.
Another object of this invention is the provision of a brace which is light in weight and which carries no interfering elements on the inside of the knee that would inhibit running.
A further object of the present invention is the provision of a light-weight brace for protecting the knee joint against injury and which is light enough so that it does not interfere with running.
It is another object of the instant invention to provide a knee joint brace that does not require custom fitting.
A still further object of the invention is the provision of an orthopedic brace which is simple in construction, which is inexpensive to manufacture, and which is capable of a long life of useful service with a minimum of maintenance.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an orthopedic brace for the protection of the knee joint, which may be used by small children, persons of high school age, and by adults as a protective measure in rough sports.
Another object of the invention is the provision of an orthopedic brace that resists bending in the lateral and forward directions, but permits bending in the rearward direction.
With these and other object in view, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention resides in the combination of parts set forth in the specification and covered by the claims appended hereto.